Embry Riddle and NASA Collaborate to Study Wind and Solar Power Using UAS

June 15, 2015

NASA has selected Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Daytona, Florida, campus to execute research that will use unmanned aircraft systems powered by wind and solar energy flying at 50,000 to 60,000 feet altitude to augment cell towers and orbital satellites.

The $100,000 grant will allow the university to test a concept called the Dual-Aircraft Platform, where two gliders will be connected by a very strong but also thin cable, similar to how a kit-surf works, where one aircraft will act as a sail and the other will behave like a board. The goal is to have a platform that can stay airborne for years.